# r4 paranoia
Ara,
there are definately a number of ways to look at it. I've grown accustomed to
the excellent level of response, superb documentation, and overall strength of
the Yost Group and their code. As I look over at a wall of misc graphics
software and the seemingly endless pool of dollars that have gone astray, I'm
reminded of the fact that very few software engineers and their parent
companies share the level of commitment and responsiveness that Gary and his
team do. I have this nightmarish vision of having lots of different routines
from various companies that have come and gone, having to pay 10 or 20
different upgrade fees a year as different companies change various aspects of
their code. Having to wait months after every release to have the various 3rd
party vendors update their code to work with the latest release of 3DS, seeing
various packages go unsupported because I was one of the 10 people who bought
the IPAS and the authoring company can't see supporting the product with such a
small installed base., etc. etc.
You get the picture.
Your Windows anology is a good one, have you ever noticed how virtually every
program made for Windows that isn't written by Microsoft has inherent bugs.
Additionally, the vast majority of the programs either lag behind new releases
of Windows by 3-9 months or they simply go under because they cannot keep up
with the changes.
What if someday 3DS goes to a different platform? Then we have to hope, pray
and wait for all of the IPAS developers to port their code to the new platform,
and until they do we're dead in the water. 🙁
There's alot to think about, if indeed Adesk has decided to let the large
portions of enhancements added to other programs be implemented into 3DS by 3rd
parties as opposed to writing and implementing them internally.
Paul